This invention relates to a reversible ejector tee and particularly relates to an ejector tee which forms a reversible element of a water supply system for a tub and shower arrangement.
For many years, tub and shower systems, as well as spout and spray systems, have been installed in residential homes and institutional facilities. In the tub and shower system, water is supplied in the tub mode through a spout, and in the shower mode is supplied to a shower head. A diverter valve is typically located in the spout and can be adjusted to allow water to exit from the spout in the tub mode, or from the shower head in the shower mode.
Systems of this type typically include a hot water inlet and a cold water inlet which are coupled to two inlet ports of a center body, which is a cross-joint conduit, also having two outlet ports. The two inlet ports are typically horizontally spaced at opposite sides of the center body, while the two outlet ports are typically vertically spaced at the top and bottom thereof.
In use, hot water and cold water enters respective ones of the inlet ports of the center body, as controlled by selectively adjustable hand-operated valves located in the hot and cold supply inlet flow path. If both of the hot and cold water valves are open, hot and cold water mixes in the center body and flows through the spout or the shower head, depending on the selective positioning of the diverter valve.
In systems developed some years ago, it was noticed that when the diverter valve was positioned to direct the water through the spout and into the tub, a small amount of water would reach, and leak from, the shower head. In order to prevent the water from reaching the shower head during the tub mode, a device, referred to in some quarters as an ejector tee, was inserted into the center body to preclude water from flowing toward the shower head when the system was set for the tub mode, but allow water to flow to the shower head when the system is in the shower mode.
Typically, the center body forms a portion of an in-wall faucet body, which also includes a pair of end bodies in water-flow communication with the center body through conduits connected or formed between the end bodies and respective ones of the inlet ports of the center body. The valves are assembled with the end bodies so that the valve stems are in parallel and extend horizontally in the same direction when the faucet body is held in a prescribed orientation. The center body, end bodies and the linking conduits can be formed of individual components, or they may be formed as single casting.
In some instances when the faucet body is used in a tub and shower arrangement, the faucet body is enclosed within the space behind a wall from which the tub spout and the shower head extends. If the water supply conduits extend upward from a floor level, the faucet body is oriented in such a manner that the ejector tee assumes a prescribed vertical orientation which allows the tee to perform as intended. However, if the water supply conduits extend downward from an overhead location, the faucet body must be inverted, whereby the ejector tee is also inverted. In the inverted position, the structure of the ejector tee now directs the mixed water, undesirably, to the shower head regardless of the setting of the diverter valve.
Thus, there is a need for an ejector tee with improved structure for precluding the leaking of water from a shower head during a tub mode. There is also a need for an ejector tee, the position of which can be reversed within the center body to accommodate use of the faucet body with water supply conduits which extend toward either the bottom or the top of the body.